A Life With Music

I grew up with music.  It's always been a very important part of my life.  That's not to say I grew up in a musical family.  The extent of my family's musical achievements were many of my mom's made-up songs and a few attempts at instrumental lessons that mostly ended miserably for me.  But we did listen to music a lot. 

Any car trip, no matter how long or short, we'd have the radio or a tape playing (CDs later, of course).  Christmas Eves and mornings were incomplete without music in the background.  And even while my sister and I were doing our schoolwork (we were homeschooled), we almost always had the radio on.

Music still plays a very important role in my life.  I fall asleep to music almost every night, I hate to drive anywhere without music playing, even as I sit here and type I've got my iPhone on shuffle.

But it's not just having music playing that makes it important in my life.  Some songs have special meaning to me.  Death Cab for Cutie's "Passenger Seat" is one of the most romantic songs I've ever heard.  I know what song I'm going to play at my wedding for the father-daughter dance (Kendall Payne's "Daddy"), and I'm not even in a relationship.  There are some songs that I have to repeat a few times before I can move on to the next song on the playlist (Saving Jane's "Autumn and Me" and the accompanying hidden track and Jon McLaughlin's "Questions" are two big ones). 

A lot of times certain songs really speak to what I'm going through in my life at the time I hear them.  Sometimes I'll hear a song and wonder if the songwriter knows me, because there is no way this song isn't about me (deep down I still think Jon McLaughlin wrote "Praying to the Wrong God" about me).

I also love to sing along.  I can't really sing on my own to save my life, thanks to an annoying little combination of tone-deafness and complete lack of rhythm.  But when I'm singing along, I do alright.  I almost can't not sing along when a song I love is on.  Sometimes I'll cut off a conversation with someone to sing along with a song on the radio.  Yesterday I was shopping with a friend and a great James Taylor song came on over the store speakers, and I found myself quietly singing along.  It's one of my favorite things.

Despite how much I love music, I'm not "good" at music.  I'm pretty much useless when it comes to finding new music to love.  If someone gives me a few dollars to pick some music for the jukebox, I'll usually pick one song, get overwhelmed with the choices, and have someone else pick.  I have mostly my sister to thank for most of my current music library.  She knows music.  She knows good music.  She'll be telling me about her new favorite band, and then a month later they're everywhere (Fall Out Boy, the Fray, Kings of Leon are just a few bands she's done this with).

So every few months I'll find out from her what her new faves are, and I usually love them all.  I have a few other friends with great taste, that I can always count on for some great suggestions.  It's been about a year since I've had a significant music library update, so I'm feeling a little out of the loop right now.  Any suggestions of can't-live-without songs or artists?